If things were different
by curioussciencetistkae
Summary: From a conversation between me and a-thought-is-a-spark on tumblr. Yang is actually in the battle with Neo. Years later, Ruby, still upset over Yang's death, finds out she can use her speed and dust to time travel back in time. With the world overrun by Grimm and the White Fang, Ruby goes back to save Yang, thinking that if she had lived, she could have helped turn the tides of war


**A/N: First bit of the fic is in Neo's POV. Also, this is probably only going to be like two chapters log, so short fic.**

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><p>Neo grins as she draws out her sword. She looks down at the unconscious blonde on the ground below her. She is somewhat disappointed the fight wasn't longer and that the blonde was easy to take out. It was still a fun fight though. But now it has to end. The blonde and the rest of her team have been a thorn in the side for a long time now. One less member will make things easier.<p>

The blonde is still unconscious as Neo kneels down next to her, positioning her sword over the blonde's chest. Once the blade enters her body, the blonde snaps awake, gasping and crying out as she feels the blade spear her heart. Her body starts to jerk as it tries to rid itself from the threat. However, it only does more harm than good, sending the blade deeper and deeper into the blonde during its fit.

Neo grins as she watches the blonde's lilac eyes start to darken as she clings to life. She start to pull her sword out of the blonde, blood slowly oozing out. She doesn't get far when the blonde grabs ahold of Neo's wrist, keeping the blade in her. Neo tries to pull her sword out again, but it is no use. As she tries to pull the blade out, the blonde's other hand wraps around Neo's neck, choking her. The blonde's eyes are now burning a bright red. If she can't stop Neo from killing her, then she'll bring her down with her. Neo isn't going to let that happen. She pushes her weapon in even more into the blonde and starts to twist it around. The blonde's grip on the smaller girl starts to loosen as she gasps for breath.

"R-Ru-u-by." The blonde musters out. A few tears slip out of her now lilac eyes as her hands slip off of Neo and back onto the ground. Neo pulls out her blade out as the blonde's chest moves for the last time.

Neo rubs her neck as she looks down at her now lifeless opponent. A crimson red spot starts to grow on the blonde's chest, staining her clothes. A pool of blood is also starting to form under the blonde. The last tears she shed still reside on her cheeks while some stay trap in her dull eyes.

_One down, three left. _Neo thinks to herself as she stands and puts her blade back in its sheath. An idea suddenly pops into her mind. While she enjoys it, it is very hard to kill a hunter or huntress, even if they are only in training. All she really needs to do is destroy the will the rest of the team. So long as their will is broken, they'll be much less of a threat and also much more able to be manipulated. Neo grabs the blonde under her armpits and starts to drag her out the cart.

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><p>"Where is she?" Ruby whines when she sees that her sister has yet to come out of the train cart. Weiss and Blake look towards the open cart, hoping that their follow teammate will appear, but she doesn't. Ruby turns her head around to see where the train is. She sees a door coming at them—a closed metal one. "Oh no."<p>

Weiss and Blake turn their heads around to see the door coming at them. There is no time to look for Yang. Ruby looks to her partner. Weiss nods and hits her weapon down on the train cart. Ice pillars shoot out, encasing the three teammates. A second later the train hits the door, sending everything upwards into a hole. Ruby's vison is white and her ears ring as she tries to figure out where she is. Blinking to bring color back, she starts to her the sound of sirens wailing. The darker haired girl looks around to see that she and the others are back in Vale, and that people are looking at them. Before she can say anything to warn them of the impending doom, Grimm of all shape and sizes pop out of the large hole made by the train. People start to run in fear.

"We have to do something." Ruby says, standing back to her feet.

"What can we do? There is no way we can handle all of them!" Weiss states.

"We have to do something though, just until help arrives. And we still need to find Yang."

"Try and call her quickly. Then we need to do something about these Grimm." Blake says, pulling out her weapon.

Ruby stands near her teammates as she calls her sister. The phone rings and rings, not seeming to stop. Ruby bites her lip as she prays that Yang will pick up. She doesn't. It goes to voicemail after ringing a number of times. Ruby panicky leaves a message asking where Yang is, if she is okay, and if she can come and help. She ends the call and looks around at the mess her city is in now. Grimm are running everywhere as well as humans and faunus. Next to her, her teammates are gearing up for a fight. They need to hold off the Grimm till help can arrive. Swallowing her fear for her sister for a later time, Ruby pulls out her weapon to get ready for a fight.

A group of Beowolves start to come after the three. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake all jump out of the away from each other, trying to get the group of Beowolves to separate. They do. Ruby watches as two Beowolves come at her. She use semblance to speed at the Grimm, slicing them in half. More Grimm start appearing. Ruby uses her semblance again to defeat the Grimm. Weiss and Blake do the same, using their semblance to trap the Grimm and to fool them with a clone. The Grimm keep coming and coming. Bigger Grimm like Nevermores and Death Stalkers start to come towards the three girls.

"Uh, guys. We have a problem." Ruby points to the newer group of Grimm coming towards them.

"Shit. It took forever to kill one Nevermore, and that is when we had everyone with us. There's no way we can handle all of those." Blake says.

"We need to get out of here, and see if we can call the others. With them here we can manage this more and not get killed." Weiss adds on.

"Maybe Yang will be with them." Ruby says under her breath. Her teammates sigh, having heard her. All three know it is a long shot that either team JNPR, SSSN, or even CFVY knows where the missing member of team RWBY can be. Ruby still clings to the hope that they do. Her gut is telling her that something has happen to her older sister. She fears that her gut is right. She needs something to tell her that Yang is safe.

The new hoard of Grimm start to come closer to the three girls. They bolt, knowing it will be suicide to fight all of them. The girls encounter smaller Grimm during their escape. The Grimm are either ignored or cut down. All three girls are starting to tire from the fight and their escape from the larger Grimm. They duck down behind some rubble, out of breath.

Ruby takes a peak out from behind the rubble, looking to see where all the Grimm are. The Nevermore and Death Stalker seem to have gone in different directions, while a few smaller Grimm prowl around, yards away from them. Ruby sighs, happy for a moment to catch her breath.

"You guys okay?" Ruby asks.

"I'm good. Just out of breath." Weiss says.

"Same." Blake answers.

"That's good. I'm going to see if I can get into with anyone." Ruby starts to dial anyone who might be able to help. Jaune, no answer. Sun, the same result. Yang, still nothing. Ruby figures that Jaune and Sun and their teams already know of what is going on, and are trying to fight the Grimm. As for Yang, Ruby's fear is starting to grow into panic. Sure, Yang as gone off on her own and not picked up for whatever reason, but it was never when the end of the world seems near. Where can she be?

"HEY!" Blake shouts, standing to her feet. Ruby and Weiss follow Blake's gaze to see the multi colored woman from the night of the faunus faction meeting. She stands in the middle of an opening, away from the group, smiling. What did Roman say her name was? Neo? Whatever her name, she doesn't move as Blake starts to yell at her again. "WHERE THE HELL IS YANG?"

"She knows where Yang is?" Ruby asks.

"Yang fought her on the train. She might have been the last person to have seen Yang." Weiss answers her partner.

Ruby looks at the woman. She has started to move backwards, away from the remaining members of team RWBY. Ruby can't let her go. If she disappears, the one chance of knowing where Yang can be will disappear as well. Ruby uses her semblance to speed towards Neo, faintly hearing her teammates shout her name. When she reaches where Neo stood, she is already gone. Ruby looks around for her, wondering how she can disappear so fast. But Ruby's silver eyes quickly spot her again, standing yards away from the young leader. Ruby speeds towards Neo again, only for the woman to disappear once more.

_Damn it. Why does she keep disappearing?_ Ruby thinks to herself. She starts to look for her again, but only sees more Grimm. Ruby ducks down, hiding from the Grimm. She keeps a close eye on the Grimm while she looks around for the multi colored woman. Still nothing. More Grimm—and Weiss and Blake coming towards her. Ruby gulps, knowing she is going to be reprimanded for running off. She watches as her teammates kill some of the Grimm before reaching her.

"What the hell was that for?! Running off like that! Are you trying to get killed?" Weiss scolds her partner.

"Sorry." Ruby mumbles. "I just—if she knows about Yang, maybe she can lead us to where Yang can be."

"Well I think that is what she wants." Blake says to her teammates. She points at Neo, who has reappeared. The grin is still on her face. "She keeps disappearing and then reappearing. I think she is purposely trying to make us follow her. It could be a trap."

"Do you think she has Yang?"

"I think that is what the trap is. Yang lost her fight, and she has her. She wants us now."

"Then what should we do? Follow her, hoping that she truly has Yang and risk the chance of a trap, or don't?"

"Either way is risky." Weiss tells her partner. "If we go, and Yang is there, we can end up getting captured or hurt. Maybe she is not though, and we could be following a lost cause. But if Yang is there, and we don't follow, who knows what will happen."

"If she wants us to follow her, and she was the last person to see Yang, I think we should follow." Ruby says.

"Are you sure about this Ruby?" Blake asks.

Ruby nods. "We need to find Yang."

"Just don't run off this time." Weiss tells her partner.

The three girls load their weapons, ready to defend themselves if they need to. Slowly, they start to walk towards their enemy. Like with Ruby, when the group get close enough to her, Neo disappears. It is Blake who spot her first. She stands in front of an alleyway, waiting. Ruby's heart starts to pound as she draws closer to Neo for the fourth time. She hopes where ever this mystery woman takes her and her teammates, that Yang is there. Her fear and panic is growing by each minute that she doesn't know where her sister is among the mess.

Like all the other times, Neo disappears, but quickly reappears in an opening. As they draw closer to the girl, Ruby notices that there is something behind the girl. The closer they get, the more the shape takes form until Ruby realizes that it is her sister, lying on her side and seemly unconscious.

"YANG!" Ruby shouts. She tries to move forward, but Blake grabs ahold of the young leader, stopping Ruby in her tracks.

"Careful Ruby. We don't know if there is anyone else with her. They could be hiding." Blake tells Ruby.

Ruby looks around the area, try to see if she can spot anyone who might be lurking in the shadows. As she scans the area, out of the corner of her eye, something flashes. Ruby turns her head towards the flash to see Neo pulling out something from her umbrella. A sword. It seems like the multi colored woman is getting ready for a fight. Instead of fighting, however, Neo points her sword at Yang. To Ruby, it looks like she is about to stab Yang. That is all she needs to bolt forward.

Once again, Weiss and Blake shout at their leader, but Ruby ignores their calls. Right when Ruby is ready to strike Neo, she disappears, causing Ruby to stumble over her sister's body. Ruby shakes off the dizziness from falling, and turns around to face her sister. She is about to call out to her sister but her words get caught in her throat. She notices that the back of Yang's jacket, as well as some of her blonde her, is stained red.

"Y-Yang." Ruby says, her voice starting shake. She crawls over to her sister, and flips her over to her back. Ruby jerks back and slaps her hand over her mouth, stifling a scream. Like on her back, there is a large red stain on her chest, along with a laceration. Along with the wound on her chest, cuts and buries also riddle the blonde's body.

"Nonononono. Yang!" Ruby shouts. She picks up her sister, cradling her lifeless body in her arms. She continues to shout her sister's name and starts to shake her, trying in vain to wake her sister. But it is no use. As much as Ruby denies it, she know Yang is gone. The blonde sister is cold, pale, and limp, showing no signs that she is alive.

Ruby buries her face in the crook of her sister's cold neck, tears rolling down her face as she keeps telling herself this has to be a dream. "No, please, god no. You can't be dead. No. This can't be real." Ruby mumbles to herself. _How?_ She thinks. Wasn't it only a short time ago that she was in one of Yang's warm, tight hugs. Wasn't it only a short time ago Yang was smiling, cracking puns to annoy people, and just a loveable idiot of a sister? It feels like she is have a nightmare, that if she can just wake up, Yang will be there, alive, breathing, and smiling. But the girl in her arms in anything but that. Cold, still, and expressionless. _Please let this be a dream. Please!_

Something touches Ruby's shoulder. The younger girl snaps her head out of her sister's shoulder to see who has touched her. It's Weiss, a somber look on her face. Blake is next to her, her amber eyes transfixed on her partner. How long have they been there?

"W-Weiss. B-Blake." Ruby weeps when she sees her teammates. "I-I—What—"Ruby cannot manage to say more than one word. She starts to choke on her tears as she buries her face back into her sister's neck. "_Why?_"

"I don't know Ruby. I don't know." Weiss tells Ruby, doing her best to keep her voice steady for her partner. "She may have been caught off guard or something. I just don't know Ruby. But you know she put up a fight."

"Yang never lost a fight. Why is it when she loses this one, that she dies."

Weiss only sighs, not having the answers Ruby wants. All she can do to comfort her weeping partner at the moment, is to rub the younger girl's back. Blake does the same, still keeping her eyes on Yang. Ruby arms tighten around Yang. Amidst the her growing sadness, a type of anger and hate she has never felt before starts to grow. Sure, she has hated things like certain types of food or gotten angry at someone for something, but it was never like this. Those where simple types of anger or hate, a flame that can be snuff out with ease. But now, what she feels hurts and burns. This flame cannot be so easily put out. She wants the person who murder her sister, the multi colored woman Neo, to pay. She wants Neo dead. She wants to kill her for the death of Yang. She wants revenge.

There is a low rumble. All three girls look up to see a herd of Grimm stampede by. Some of the Grimm take notice into the four girls, smelling blood, sadness, and hatred and change their direction towards the group.

"Fuck, we have to go." Blake says, jumping to her feet. Weiss is quick to follow her teammate.

"What about Yang?" Ruby asks.

The faunus gives Ruby a sad look, now keeping her eyes away from her partner. It takes a moment for Ruby to register what Blake's look means. Her silver eyes widen. "We can't leave her!"

"She'll only slow us down if we carry her Ruby. And if we try to carry her that means one of us is going to have to be defenseless against the Grimm. We can't."

"But-"

"She's right Ruby. And think about it. Yang was always the one to make sure that the three of us were safe before she made sure she herself was. Do you really think she would want us to put out lives in danger just to carry her body around?" Weiss tells Ruby.

Ruby looks back down at her sister. What Weiss says is true. There has been a number of times Yang has been hurt along with her sister and friends and she would almost always make sure they were cared for first before she was taken care of—sometimes she would go as far as to hide her injures to make sure of it. Yang would never want to put anyone in danger. It is a stab in a heart to leave her sister, but with the Grimm coming closer and closer to her and her teammates, Ruby has no choice.

Before she stands, Ruby gives Yang one last tight hug, whispering 'I love you' into her ear. Finally Ruby lets go of her sister, gently placing Yang's body on the ground. Ruby stands up with the rest of her team, getting ready to fend off and escape the large group of Grimm. The young leader takes one last look at her sister before attacking the Grimm, making her way through them and away from Yang.

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><p>She lies on the ground, gasping for breath. Her teammates and friends are either on the ground with her or are hunch over trying to breathe as well. Shortly after leaving Yang, Ruby and the remaining members of her team found team JNPR and SSSN. They asked what had happen, and where Yang was. Ruby practically broke down telling the story. Weiss and Blake had to take over has Jaune tried to calm the younger leader down. Hours later, Grimm are still running amok around the city. And with the White Fang also taking action, no one seems to get a grip on the situation. Many people have been injured or killed. Among those hurt is Ruby, and most of her friends.<p>

But among those killed, is Yang. Now that night has drawn, and for the time being the teams for in a safe area, Ruby finally lets go of what she has been holding in since she told the others about the death of Yang. She had to keep it in. She needed to stay focused on the task on hand, trying to stop the Grimm. But that was hard to do. Ruby kept losing focuses when she was fighting. All she could think about was Yang, not about the Grimm or the White Fang. While they were more focused, it was clear that Weiss and Blake, and even some of the others, were having trouble focusing. With many being unfocused, rather than fighting most of the time, the group mostly was trying to escape from the Grimm.

As the tears start to roll down her face, Ruby cups her hand over her mouth, trying to stay as quiet as she can, in case anyone or anything thing is nearby. She keeps seeing Yang's broken body in her mind. She does her best to suppress that memory. Closing her eyes, Ruby starts to think of happier memories of Yang. She thinks of day the two of them brought Zwei home. Of how one of the first things they did with Zwei was give him a bath, and how Yang fell in the tub while trying to keep the pup inside it. She thinks of when Yang first made her weapon. How excited she was to finally have a weapon of her own, and how she nearly burned the house down playing around with it. Ruby also remembers how happy Yang was when not only Ruby came to Beacon with her, but also when they were put on the same team together with Ruby leading it. So many happy and good memories, but the one of her being dead in her sister's arms is the one that burns the most in Ruby's mind, and refuses to go away.

Ruby also starts to think of Neo. She was the last person to see Yang alive. She was the one who fought Yang. The one who is the most likely culprit for Yang's death. She led Ruby and the others to Yang's body. She wanted them to see what she had done to Yang.

_You killed my sister. _Ruby thinks to herself. _You're going to pay f__or it. _


End file.
